Christmas at Kirkwood: Hannah’s Story

Christmas is a very special time of year for all families, but particularly for those receiving care at the end of life. Our teams at Kirkwood make sure to go the extra mile to ensure that our patients and their families have the best quality time together possible, and make special memories each Christmas.

Meet Hannah. Hannah is a Therapy Assistant within the Support and Therapy Department and primarily works underneath the Occupational Therapy team, whilst working alongside the nurses. This is Hannah’s first Christmas working at Kirkwood and has seen the joy Christmas in Support and Therapy brings to Kirkwood’s service users. This is Hannah’s story:

“For a lot of people, patients and carers, Christmas can be a really difficult time considering the circumstances and there’s an element of community at Kirkwood. People come together whether that’s staff, volunteers, patients or carers, we all come together and it’s a safe space where people are free to relax and take part in something they might not have done before.

“There are a lot of Christmas activities going on at the moment; we recently had our Christmas Fair, which a lot of our patients and carers made a variety of Christmas gifts. We made Christmas Robins, pin cushions, herb cushions and wrapping paper. We also made peg wreaths and all the ideas came from patients and carers.

“We all sat and did them together on different days and it was really lovely for patients and carers to have something that they can do together. A lot of patients and carers like to do things for a reason, not just for the sake of it. So, as we made money from the creations at the fair, it’s kind of giving back but it’s also about the social element.”

“It’s really nice to do an event, so the Christmas Fair was one of them where different departments came together. We’ve also got the Christmas Celebration this afternoon which is a really exciting event that I am co-organising with the Chaplin.”

“We have a gratitude tree and the Honley Male Voice Choir coming in to perform carols and it’s just going to be a really nice event where we can come together and have a lovely afternoon. The catering team have prepared food and refreshments which is really nice and I’m really looking forward to it, as are many of our patients.

“Our patients and carers have also made a tree for a local tree festival which we enter every year. But as this is my first Christmas here it was really lovely to be able to do it with the patients and carers.”

“For a lot of our patients, coming here is the highlight of their week and it’s really nice to be a part of that because a lot of time you can see the difference you’re making, which is lovely and rewarding.”